


When We Fly

by Lil_Munchkin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Organized Crime, POV Alternating, Pack Dynamics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29911587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lil_Munchkin/pseuds/Lil_Munchkin
Summary: "This kid! He's gonna be an alpha, I can feel it!""Yeah like, the toughest alpha to ever live!"Daichi watches from a close distance as Shouyou glows under the embellished praises Yuu and Ryuunosuke shower him in, and wonders whether it's moral to stand by and allow it happen.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Sugawara Koushi, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	When We Fly

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains tropes that exist within the parameters of the A/B/O and Organised Crime genres, so please take this into consideration before you decide to read it.
> 
> I've omitted certain tags for the sake of spoilers, but I'll include TWs at the beginning of chapters that involve any sensitive topics.
> 
> New chapters will be posted every Sunday, 10pm AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)

“Haven’t seen you around here before.”

Tobio looks up. The onslaught of rain bounces off the tattered brim of a shabby, black umbrella, eclipsing the tiny boy that stands beneath it. Puddles submerge his beaten sneakers, and the knobbly knees that peek out from his shorts are covered in cuts and bruises. His hair is a matted tangle of playful apricot, sweeping down across the biggest brown eyes Tobio has ever seen.

The boy couldn’t be older than elementary school.

“Did you forget your umbrella?” the boy asks, tilting his head cutely. “You know—I have a pretty sweet cardboard box in the alley next door. I’m happy to share!”

The ‘pretty sweet cardboard box’ is fighting a losing battle against the rain when the boy shows it off to him.

“It’s soggy,” is all Tobio says.

“It’ll dry once the rain stops.”

The boy’s optimism is as stupid as the colour of his hair. It doesn’t look big enough to fit one of them, let alone two.

As if by divine intervention, the box collapses in on itself. The ginger cries, running over to the box to try and prop it up again, only for the creases to tear apart as though it’s given up on itself.

You know, Tobio has only been out on the streets for half a day, and he’s beginning to think it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

“We can’t stay out here. We’ll get sick and die.”

The boy looks up at Tobio with wide eyes. “‘We’?”

He walks up and plucks the umbrella from the boy’s hand. No point letting the little guy hold it if they’re going to share. “My name is Kageyama Tobio. I’m twelve. My pack—” he swallows “—left me. I’m new to the streets.”

The kid looks at him with newfound awe. “H-Hinata Shouyou! I’m also twelve! You—you have a pack? At your age? That’s so cool!”

Tobio snorts. “Weren’t you listening, idiot? I said they _left_ me!”

“I know—but still! I’ve never met someone from a pack!”

“I’m not—oh never mind. Come on, I don’t want to stay out here any longer.”

Hinata nods furiously. “I know just the place to go!”

The smaller boy takes his hand and pulls him along. Tobio finds himself running through the empty, decaying streets of Lower Tokyo with this stranger, feet hitting puddles and Hinata’s laughter echoing through the downpour. Grey water swells in the gutters, pulling bits of stray garbage into its stream, and child silhouettes scuttle into building crevices like sound-spooked mice.

They come to a stop under the cover of an arcade. The ornate glass doors lock them out of the walkway leading to the indoor boutiques, but the entrance shields them well enough from the rain.

They’re out of breath and shivering from cold sweat, but the adrenaline keeps their veins warm. Tobio drops his backpack on the tiles and collapses. Hinata sits next to him.

“What’s in the bag?”

“Stuff,” he exhales heavily.

“What kind of stuff?”

“Survival stuff.”

“But no umbrella, huh?”

Tobio scowls, looking away to hide his blush. “Shut up! It was an oversight, okay?”

“Don’t worry! You’ll get more resourceful as time goes on. It takes a while to get used to it, you know? Being out here, I mean.”

Tobio peeks over at Hinata, curiosity piquing. “How long have you been … out here?”

Hinata looks up at the raining pelting the glass above their heads, scrunching his little nose in thought. “Hmm saw someone taking down Christmas decorations a few weeks back—so that means it’s gotta be almost two years now.”

“Oh. Where are you parents?”

“Don’t have any.”

“Everyone’s got parents.”

“I had foster parents—went through a few of them but you know.” Hinata shrugs, gathering his knees to his chest. “They’d eventually get sick of me.”

“Oh.”

Hinata is quick to change the subject. “But you—you didn’t need parents! You had a _pack_! Ah man—so flippin’ _cool_!”

Hinata’s aversion to using swear words is more amusing than Tobio cares to admit. Since strays don’t have parents or guardians to monitor their language, they usually don’t care to censor themselves. “They were a rogue pack.”

“Even cooler!”

This time it’s Tobio who shrugs. “If you say so.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a part of a rogue pack! It’d be like having never-ending sleepovers with your closest friends!”

Somewhere inside Tobio’s chest, he feels an ache.

A ‘rogue pack’ used to be a derogatory slur used by the government and the upper classes to refer to unofficial packs that started springing up in the slums of San Tokyo. Oftentimes these rogue packs are made up of delinquents abandoned by the system or their parents, and are known to run wild through the streets stirring up trouble. Instead of opening up youth centres and orphanages to deal with the unprecedented increase of homeless children in Lower Tokyo, the government outright banned the congregation of rogue packs altogether.

This only led to an increase of rogue packs in the city’s underbelly. Raised to fight, raised to defy, some of the more cunning take the city’s darkness for themselves, getting rich off the exploitations authorities turn a blind eye to.

Now they call themselves ‘rogue packs’ and wear it like a badge of honour.

“Ne, Kageyama-kun?” Tobio blinks. Hinata is looking at him, eyes glittering with enthusiasm.

“What?”

“I asked if it’s like that—like having never-ending sleepovers with your friends?” He’s bouncing his knee like he can barely handle the anticipation of Tobio’s answer.

“No, idiot!” Tobio flicks Hinata square in the forehead. “You really _are_ stupid!”

Hinata’s crumpling expression has Tobio almost regretting his answer, but he’s too stubborn to take it back.

The disappointment only lasts a moment before Hinata springs back again, all smiles. “Well then—who needs ‘em? We can just have our own sleepovers! You got any spooky stories to tell?”

Tobio gives Hinata a funny look. For a moment, they just stare at each other, one smiling and the other frowning. Then Tobio sighs, and reaches for his backpack.

“If we’re doing this, then we’re gonna need some snacks.”

Hinata’s cheers and claps, missing the touches of a smile teasing the corners of Tobio’s lips.

*

It’s mid-spring when Shouyou takes Kageyama to Sea Swallow Park for apple picking. They’ve lived on the streets together for almost a month, and it’s the happiest Shouyou has felt since he ran away from his fourth foster home. There are plenty of kids his age out on the streets (‘strays’ is what the rogue packs call them), but none of them ever wanted to be his friend before.

Shouyou isn’t even sure Kageyama _is_ his friend, but wherever he goes, the tall, lanky raven-haired boy is never far behind. Surely that says something, right? And he really likes that about them. They’re like—like a team! They look out for each other and make sure the other is fed, and they huddle together for warmth and tell each other stories until the shivering stops. It’s probably similar to what packmates are like. At least, Shouyou _thinks_. Kageyama doesn’t talk much about his time in his ex-pack so he can’t be certain.

“It’s over here!” Shouyou throws over his shoulder as he goes barrelling up the grassy hill. Kageyama’s hot on his heels.

“I’m not letting you beat me this time, idiot!”

“Fat chance!”

Shouyou’s hand slams the base of the apple tree at the same time as Kageyama’s, both of them sweating and gasping for breath.

He takes his hand away, grinning. “Guess it’s a draw.”

“I definitely beat you.”

“Give it a rest, Bakageyama!”

“I told you not to—” An apple comes out of nowhere and hits Kageyama on the head. “Ow! What the—”

Giggles and snickers can be heard from above, and they both simultaneously look up to find two kids sitting on tree trunks with their legs dangling down. One’s tall and skinny, and looks like he could pass for a high schooler. He has choppy blonde hair, goldish brown eyes, and crooked glasses that don’t fit right on his face. The left lens is cracked in the corner, webbing out across like a black widow’s legs, and a piece of tape is wrapped around the right hinge. The other one seems closer to their age, with greenish brown hair down to his ears and freckles dotting his cheeks. They both look like them—like strays.

Glasses takes a bite out of an apple, smugness in his grin; and Freckles has a hand over his mouth, failing to hide his amusement.

Kageyama glares up at them, rubbing the back of his head. “What are you turds doing up there?”

Glasses quirks an eyebrow. “What does it look like we’re doing? We’re eating apples.”

“ _Our_ apples.”

“Oh, _sorry_ Your Majesty. I didn’t realise this apple tree _belonged_ to you. Here—please accept my humble apology.” Glasses slings the apple he’d been eating straight at Kageyama, but Shouyou is quicker. He kicks off the base of the tree and catches it mid-air.

“Holy shit—the baby shrimp just flew!” Freckles exclaims.

Shouyou smiles proudly, turning to Kageyama for—something. Actually, he doesn’t know why he turned to look at Kageyama. The raven-haired boy just frowns at him.

“You know I could’ve easily caught that, right?”

Shouyou pokes his tongue out at Kageyama before throwing it back at Glasses, aiming between his eyes. But something unexpected happens. Glasses catches the apple and in the same motion shoves it back at Shouyou. It hits him in the forehead and he falls on his ass. Freckles bursts into laughter. All Glasses does is smirk and pick another apple, taking out a large chunk with his teeth.

Kageyama balls his hands into fists. “Idiot! You’re just gonna take that?!”

“You say it like I wanted it to happen!” Shouyou whines, rubbing his forehead.

“Aw Tsukki, maybe we should stop teasing them and let them have some apples,” Freckles says.

Glasses snorts. “What’re you talking about? I just gave them one.”

“Tsukki …”

“Fine, fine. Oi, Your Majesty! Take whatever. We won’t be able to eat them all before they rot anyway.”

Kageyama glares. “We didn’t ask for your permission!”

The blonde’s smirk widens. “Well I’m giving it to you anyway.”

Shouyou hops to his feet once he’s shaken off the initial shock, and starts jumping on the spot. He then springs three meters into the air, latching onto the branch Freckles is sitting on and swings himself around to land steadily on his feet. Freckles squeaks in surprise, moving further across the branch.

“Goddamn you can jump high!”

“Thanks!” Shouyou grins, plopping down and plucking himself an apple. “They say the best apples are on the highest branches, so I gotta be able to reach ‘em somehow, right?”

Freckles blinks, then his surprise slowly turns to curiosity. “What’s your name?”

Shouyou introduces himself and Kageyama, and Freckles introduces himself as Yamaguchi Tadashi and Glasses as Tsukishima Kei. They’re also twelve, which is kind of shocking. He thought for sure Glasses would be fifteen _at least_.

Sitting this close to Yamaguchi, Shouyou notices that the boy has a scent on him. What _is_ that—? He can’t pinpoint what the smell is.

Kageyama uses the base of the tree to do a run up before snatching one of the branches, hoisting himself up with his own upper-body strength. Shouyou watches Kageyama, secretly impressed, as Yamaguchi explains how he ended up on the streets and crossed paths with Tsukishima.

“I’ve been out here about a year. My step-dad was kind of the worst. Mum kept breaking up with him, and then she would get back with him like a week later.”

“That sucks!”

“Yeah, right? Anyway, I ran away, thinking it’d be easy to get picked up by a rogue pack. Turns out—not so easy!”

“Right!”

“But then I met Tsukki about six months ago, so it’s not all bad. I saw him going through some trash and he shared some of his scraps with me.”

“Eh?” Shouyou points at Tsukishima. “You’re telling me _he’s_ capable of kindness?!”

“You don’t even know me,” Tsukishima deadpans.

“I know enough!”

Yamaguchi giggles. “He’s not that bad. He can be nice when he wants to be.”

“Which is probably 0.1% of the time,” Kageyama mutters as he polishes an apple against his tattered shirt.

Tsukishima snorts. “Big words coming from _Your Majesty_. I’d make a comment about your angry face, but it’s in poor taste for me to be making fun of birth defects.”

Shouyou sways his legs, happily munching on an apple. He pivots the subject before Kageyama has the chance to blow a fuse. “So, Yamaguchi, how come you’ve got a smell? You find cologne in a dumpster or something?”

“Were you dropped as a baby?” Tsukishima asks with unwarranted sincerity.

“Why—why? Why’d you ask that?!”

“It’s his scent, idiot,” Kageyama enlightens him.

“But.” Shouyou blinks and runs his eyes up and down Yamaguchi, as if expecting to find something different about him. He’s just a normal twelve-year-old like the rest of them. “But you have to Present to have a scent, don’t you?”

“Oh, so he _does_ retain knowledge.”

Shouyou ignores that.

Yamaguchi nods patiently. “I Presented about three months ago—a little after I met Tsukki.”

“Woah! But—you’re only twelve!”

Yamaguchi blushes and scratches the back of his head. “I’m an early bloomer, I guess.”

That’s incredible! He’s never met anyone who’s Presented before fourteen! “So what are you?”

“I’m a beta.”

“Cool! I wanna be a beta—or if I’m really, _really_ , super-duper lucky, I want to be an alpha!”

Tsukishima lets out a huge snort at that. “Forget what I just said.”

Surprisingly, Kageyama doesn’t have anything snarky to say to that. He just chews on his apple, staring at Hinata thoughtfully.

*

The chilling whispers of late October warns them of the winter that’s yet to come. It’s a time of the year that sets all the strays on edge, haunted by the thought of braving through another brutal season out in the elements. Not all of them will live through it. Autumn is when they start to get desperate, doing what they can now to compensate for the time lost later.

It’s been a long afternoon of fruitless scavenging, and Tobio and Hinata are tired. So tired, in fact, they don’t notice anything out of the ordinary when they return to their little shanty. At least, not until they pull back the curtain.

Tsukishima is on the floor with a boot pressed against his temple, and Yamaguchi is cowering beneath the figure of a boy holding a knife against his throat.

The four of them have been living together for nearly eight months now. After their encounter at the apple tree in Sea Sparrow Park, all four would meet there almost every day throughout spring. Eventually they decided safety was in numbers, and stuck together. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were living out of a shanty in an alley made up of scrap metal and rags from the junkyard near the animal shelter; this is where the four of them now live. It’s not the most ideal accommodation, but it beats sitting on the sidewalk in the cold.

“Stop stuttering and spit it out!” the one with the knife yells. “Where’re you keeping your food? I know you’ve got rice somewhere.” He kicks their portable stove and a bunch of boiling water spills over one of their sleeping bags.

They haven’t noticed Tobio and Hinata’s return yet.

Before Tobio can spring into action, a flash of orange moves out the corner of his eye. He watches, stunned, as Hinata springs into the air and kicks the boy with the knife in the back of the head. The boy falls with a cry, and Tobio quickly shakes off his initial shock and pounces on him. He pins him down hard, forcing the knife from his hand with the weight of his knee. Tobio then grabs it and holds it against the boy’s throat. This up close, he gets a better look at the boy’s appearance. There isn’t anything unique about it except for the ugly scar that runs diagonal across his face.

The other one—the one with his foot on Tsukishima’s face—moves to help his companion, but Hinata tackles him with the full force of his body. He’s got scars on his face too. Twin ones that reach from the corners of his mouth straight down to his jawline.

“Get the fuck off me!”

“You can’t tell me what to do! I’m the one who’s got you pinned down!” Tobio snarls, pressing the knife to his jugular.

“Well? Whatchu waitin’ for? Kill me if you’re gonna do it!”

The boy’s got that look in his eyes, that devil-may-care attitude. Like his life isn’t worth a copper coin in the purse of a rich man’s wallet. Tobio trembles. A familiar feeling creeps up on him. A feeling that he hasn’t felt since he left his pack. His heart is pumping in his ears, there’s a terrible twist in his gut, and two forces vie for dominance in his head.

“No please—don’t kill him! Shut the fuck up, Goshiki! What are you even saying!?”

Tobio freezes. It’s the boy’s friend.

“Stay out of it, Shirabu! This guy thinks he’s got stuff—bet he doesn’t even know how to use a knife!”

A single tear of blood seeps from the shallow cut he digs against Goshiki’s neck. In that moment, Tobio feels wild. A sickening pit of satisfaction wells in his stomach at the flicker of fear that crosses the stray’s face. He could do it—just a little more pressure, just one clean strike across the neck—and the kid would be choking on his own fluids.

_“Can you take a life, Tobio-chan?”_

“Kageyama!” A small hand grips his own, urging him to ease away the pressure of the knife. “Are you insane?!”

Gritting his teeth, Tobio looks up, preparing to shove Hinata away, until he meets the smaller boy’s eyes. They’re blown wide. In the nine months they’ve known each other, he’s never seen Hinata so scared. And he’s scared of _him_.

In that brief moment of distraction, Goshiki knocks the weight off him and sprints out of their scrap-metal home. Shirabu, who was pinned under Tsukishima once he’d been knocked to the ground, manages to wiggle out of the blonde’s grip and run away after his friend. But it’s almost like Tobio can’t register that they’re gone. The adrenaline is still strong in his veins. He can’t stop shaking, not matter how hard he tries—

Hinata takes his hands into his own. He doesn’t say anything, he just holds them until the trembling stops.

“Hinata …”

“You’re not a monster, Kageyama.” Hinata’s voice is uncharacteristically quiet. He looks down at their hands, refusing to meet Tobio’s eyes. “I won’t let you become one.”

“Tsukki …” They look up to find Yamaguchi checking Tsukishima for wounds. The blonde’s clutching his side, his face taut with pain. It’s only then Tobio realises that blood was already on the knife before he’d snatched it from Goshiki’s hand.

Carefully, Hinata unfurls Tobio’s grip from the knife, and sets it aside. He leaves to take a look at Tsukishima’s wounds. Tobio remains in place, unmoving. He only listens.

“It doesn’t look too deep,” Hinata whispers.

“We’ll need to get medicine. I’ve been meaning to get some for ages but kept putting it off,” Yamaguchi says.

“Kageyama and I will try and find some stuff. We might have to steal from pharmacies, but if we’re careful, we should be able to find gauze and antiseptic no problem.”

“Oh great,” Tsukishima groans. “I have to rely on _you two_. Isn’t this my lucky day?”

“Jeez, even in pain you’re still an ass.” Hinata laughs, not sounding quite as serious as he was just a moment ago. “Leave it to us, Tsukishima! We’ll have you in tip-top shape in no time!”

“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be grateful?”

“Tsukki! You’re hopeless!”

*

Mist vanishes into the morning air as Yuu lugs another box full of medical supplies from the boot of the car. Small islands of snow collect in gutters and on roofs, and sheens of ice coat the walkways and demand caution. It’s been snowing non-stop the past couple of days—unprecedented for autumn. The news says they’re staring down the barrel of the coldest winter in decades.

Yuu doesn’t know what the hell he was thinking, leaving the house without gloves in this weather! The tips of his fingers are flushed red from the cold. They’re so stiff he reckons they could snap off and he wouldn’t be able to feel a thing.

“Oi!” Ryu’s voice calls from inside the pharmacy. “The old man said to bring in the cold and flu stuff next!”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it!” Yuu calls back.

Asahi emerges from the entrance, folding an empty cardboard box in half.

“Can you believe it? I forgot my gloves again!” Yuu whines as he sidles past the towering alpha.

Concern pinches between Asahi’s eyebrows. “Are you cold? Do you want to borrow mine?”

Yuu snorts, heaving the box onto the counter. “They’ll just slip off and cause an accident.”

“Oh.” Asahi looks down at his hands, then at Yuu’s. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Ryu, where’s the Stanley knife?”

The bald beta pops his head up from one of the aisles. “It’s not on the counter?”

“Uh—” Yuu looks under a magazine and behind the cigarette display case before shrugging. “Not from what I can see.”

“Might’ve left it in the car. Gimme a sec.”

Ryu weaves around the aisles and shimmies past Asahi, who’s distracted by a bug that’s crawling across the pharmacy ceiling.

“Hey—stop! Get back here!”

Yuu and Asahi turn their heads in time to see Ryu go bolting down the street. They rush out of the store, watching in shock as the beta chases down two stray kids that managed to snatch up one of the boxes from their boot. Yuu immediately gives chase. He doesn’t even look to see if Asahi’s following or not.

“Get back here, ya little shits!” Ryu yells. “I’ll skin the both of ya alive when I cat’cha!”

“Oi! They won’t stop if you threaten them!” Even with his shorter legs, he manages to catch up to Ryu. They’re gaining on the kids fast.

The strays flash out of sight down an alley and Yuu can’t help but grin. _Nowhere to run now_.

He hears them curse, having realised that they’d just ducked into a dead end. Ryu and Yuu spin around the corner and back the kids further into the alley. The sight of them gives Yuu pause. He doesn’t know why. They’re not the youngest strays he’s come across, but it’s still a shock to the system. One looks tall for his age. He could only be a year or two younger than them, with short black hair and stormy-blue eyes. Instead of fear, he only looks annoyed that he’s been cornered. The other is smaller and skittish, with big brown eyes and a head of bright orange hair. He could be ten or eleven.

Very suddenly, the ginger drops the box of supplies.

“Kageyama, toss me!”

“Idiot! We haven’t had enough practice!”

“Just do it!”

They’re only given a split second to register what they just said before Little Red sprints further into the alley, whips around and runs straight at them. As he speeds past Grumpy, they hook elbows and Little Red propels upwards, knee raised and aiming for the side of Ryu’s head.

It’s fast. But not fast enough.

Ryu brings his forearm up to block the strike and snatches the ginger’s ankle. There’s a vein pulsing on his forehead. “Hey! Are you trying to fucking kill me, kid?! My skull coulda cracked the pavement if I didn’t block ya!”

He yanks at Little Red’s ankle. The kid hits the floor with a shocked cry. The other stray steps forward to punch Ryu square in the face, but Ryu blocks it with his other arm and snatches Grumpy’s wrist. The beta looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel in his eye.

“You two shits really lookin’ for a fight aren’cha?!” He twists the ankle and wrist he has in both hands at the same time. It’s not enough pressure to cause injury, but it’s enough to have them crumpling pathetically. “Yuu—grab the little one!”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He wrestles Little Red’s hands behind his back, and Ryu does the same with Grumpy.

It’s at that moment Asahi reaches them, hunched over at the entrance to the alley with his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

“Look alive, Azumane!” Ryu cackles maniacally. “We caught ourselves some live bait! They’ll make good ingredients for our meat pies, eh?”

Little Red stiffens in his grip.

Yuu scoffs. “Are you kidding? They might have enough fat between them to feed a rat!”

Asahi approaches, stopping in front of the strays with his arms crossed over his chest. Fifteen and standing at over six feet, the kids are practically trembling at the sight of Asahi, but to Yuu, Asahi looks like a distressed teddy bear. Even the way his arms are crossed—it’s like he doesn’t know what to do with them!

“Uh—what were you two doing, exactly?” Oh for god’s sake! He doesn’t sound scary at all! What a waste of potential. If he were born into Asahi’s body, he’d have the city on its knees by now!

They don’t answer, predictably. Yuu rolls his eyes and pulls Little Red’s arms tighter. “Oi, why’d you steal the box of medicine? Don’t jerk us around, or we’ll make good on skinning you alive!”

“You don’t scare us!” Grumpy jerks, failing to escape Ryu’s vice-like grip.

“Oh, you better be scared! Or I’ll have the alpha here pluck your eyeballs out!”

Asahi grimaces. “Ryu—”

“Fuckin’ hell, Azumane! Can’t you just play along for once?”

Little Red sniffs, his shoulders shaking. It takes Yuu a moment to realise that the kid is crying. Yuu’s heart doesn’t clench or bleed with sympathy. Nope. Not even slightly. “It’s our friend. He’s sick.”

“Tch—idiot! Don’t cry in front of these people! They can smell weakness!” Ryu has to press Grumpy into the pavement to stop him from squirming.

“Go on,” Yuu prompts patiently.

“He was stabbed—we were attacked by two boys we’ve never met and they had a knife. It wasn’t deep but he needs antiseptic and bandages but we can’t find any. We tried going into some stores but we were chased out before we even had the chance to grab anything. And he’s gotten sick. The wound—it’s infected. He has a fever and—”

“Okay, okay. I get it. Your friend’s in bad shape.”

Yuu looks at Asahi, then at Ryu, trying to get a feel for what’s going on in their heads. They’re both painfully predictable. Asahi stares right back at him, at a loss; Ryu’s giving him that look he gives right before he’s about to give in to his own bleeding heart.

Yuu glares. “No. Absolutely not. These brats don’t deserve our help. They stole from us! A single one of these boxes would cost us an entire pay check!”

But his fellow beta doesn’t look like he’s backing down this time. “We were strays once. What would you have done if I was dying of an infection and you had no money to buy me medicine?”

“Why’re you turnin’ soft? This one almost gave you a round house to an early grave.” Yuu digs his elbow into Little Red’s back and he whimpers. “Besides, I bet this one’s putting on an act. They probably wanted to sell the medicine for money.”

“Yuu—” Asahi’s voice is all gentle and pleading.

“Nope! Don’t you dare do this to me, Asahi! I swear to god!”

Asahi just sighs, walking around them to pick up the forgotten box of supplies Little Red dropped. “I’m going to finish up at the pharmacy and collect our pay checks. You and Ryuunosuke figure out whatever—they’re your problem.”

“Some alpha you are!” Yuu yells at Asahi’s retreating back, but the giant of a boy just looks over at him like he has bigger anxieties to deal with. And he probably does—but that’s beside the point.

Still, leaving them with this mess is only a hair’s short of cruel.

“Kid,” Ryu addresses the raven-haired stray. “I’m going to let go of you, yeah? And when I do, you won’t attack me or my packmate, alright?”

For the first time since he was tackled, Grumpy stills underneath Ryu. He slowly nods his head.

“Okay—and no sudden movements!”

As promised, Ryu eases off the kid and backs away. The younger boy immediately jumps to his feet, eyes wild, darting between Yuu and Ryu like he’s ready for a fight. Half a minute of tension passes before the kid finally relaxes, backing up towards the alley’s only exit.

“Will you let us go?” the taller stray asks tensely.

“Hold on now—we’re willing to let the stealing slide—”

“I’m not!” Yuu growls. Ryu ignores him.

“—but I want you to take us to your friend. Maybe we can help him?”

The strays share a glance.

Ryu adds: “The two of you are out of options. Are you really so stubborn that you’d let your friend die instead of accepting a little help?”

“Don’t act like we’re buddies!” Grumpy snaps. His fists are clenched at his sides. He has a look in his eye that Yuu is all too familiar with. It’s that welling of powerlessness seeping into the pit of your bones when you know you’ve got no other options. “You could be thieves yourselves! Or—or murderers, or pimps—we have no reason to trust either of you!”

“Listen, kid—”

“I’ll take you to him.” All eyes land on Little Red, who’s staring down at his shoes.

“Hina—”

“Don’t.” Little Red’s voice is so soft, but Grumpy flinches like he’s just been snarled at. “He’s—he won’t make it … If we keep doing what we’re doing he—he’ll die, Kageyama.”

“If they hurt him—”

Little Red looks up, meeting his friend’s glare. “I’ll take responsibility. It’ll be on me.”

“You vouch for them?”

“I do.”

Grumpy scoffs and shrugs his shoulders. “Fine. It’s on your head, dumbass.”

Yuu shoots Asahi a quick text to tell him what they’re doing as they leave the alley, Little Red taking the lead.

“So, what’s your names?” Ryu makes small talk. He can’t believe Ryu’s even bothering with these brats!

“None of your—”

“My names Hinata Shouyou.” Little Red grins over his shoulder, all evidence of seriousness gone. “And grumpy-pants here is Kageyama Tobio!”

Ryu puffs out his chest. “Well I’m Tanaka Ryuunosuke, and this is Nishinoya Yuu—we’re both betas!”

“Woah! That’s _so_ awesome!”

The bald beta nudges him. “Hear that? The kid thinks we’re cool!”

Yuu squares his shoulders proudly. “As he should!”

Kageyama rolls his eyes. “You guys are weird.”

“Bakageyama! Don’t be rude to them! They’re helping us!”

Hinata and Kageyama bicker for quite a few blocks. It gets to the point where Yuu wonders where they even find the energy; they look like one strong breeze away from being blown halfway across the city. He wishes they’d stop. Not because he finds it annoying, but because the more they talk the more he finds himself _endeared_ to them. These random _strays_ who have no business associating with them.

“What are _you_ smiling about?”

Ryu looks at him, big goofy grin gleaming in the autumn sun. “Reminds me of us back in the day.”

Yuu punches Ryu in the arm as he fights down his own smile.

_I am not endeared. I am not endeared—_

But he’s staring at the back of Hinata’s and Kageyama’s heads, and the sight is strikingly similar—just a few small changes to hair and skin tone and it’s like he’s looking into a mirror of their pasts. They never argued so much as they hotly debated, and Ryu never hovered around him quite in the way Kageyama does with Hinata, but now that the beta has pointed it out to him, he can’t _un_ see it.

Bastard.

The shanty Hinata leads them to is three walls of tin crudely fixed together, with a rusty roof and a large blanket used as a curtain in place of a door. He almost can’t stand to look it. It reminds him too much of how shitty their lives used to be.

_“Why’re you crying, Yuu?”_

_“Why aren’t_ you _crying? Doesn’t your stomach hurt too?”_

_“Well there’s no food tonight but hey—let’s pretend! I’m thinking of a big, greasy cheeseburger—”_

Hinata pulls back the curtain. “Yamaguchi?”

“Why are you whispering, idiot?”

“Because Tsukishima might be sleeping!”

The inside of the shanty is about what you’d expect. Dirty sleeping bags scatter the concrete floor, there’s a garbage bag in the corner and a portable stove unlit next to it. There’s a cluster of water bottles and rolls of toilet paper gathered to one side like a pile of treasures to be kept safe.

A boy with freckles is kneeling next to a boy with blonde hair, pressing a damp rag against his forehead. He’s a beta, just like them.

Hinata wasn’t kidding. The blonde is lying on his back in a sleeping bag, drenched in sweat, a small crease between his eyes and agony clenching his jaw. There’s bruising around his temple and cheek, and a tiny gash above his eyebrow that’s scabbed over.

“Who—who are these guys?”

“Yamaguchi, this is Nishinoya and Tanaka. They’ve offered to help us.” Hinata kneels beside Yamaguchi with a reassuring smile. “Has anything changed while we were gone?”

“Just—same,” Yamaguchi replies helplessly. He turns to Yuu and Ryu, desperation in his eyes, and bows over until his forehead is touching the floor. “M-My name is Yamaguchi Tadashi. Please—please help my friend. He’s hurt and he’s not getting better!”

Yamaguchi’s plea is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

They check over the sick stray briefly, but it only takes them a couple of minutes before they make an executive decision that will change the dynamic of their humble pack forever.

**Author's Note:**

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